"GIST: Distilling Human Experience" is a project for Society of Art Los Angeles and a visual studies course at SCI-Arc developed by artist and faculty Natou Fall. An experimental approach to screen writing and set design, the course and gallery installation interrogate collective storytelling, identity, and environment. How can we as a group of individuals create a story together, one vague enough to be played by anyone, and earnest enough to evoke feeling? Using a set of narrative building blocks, themes such as “MY GRIEF” “MY PLACE” “MY SPIRIT,” students created The Story of Z. In it the protagonist struggles and overcomes an obstacle of profound change. Their journey unfolds in five moments, scenes, acts. Each is manifested through language and material. The installation featured a sequence of mini-stage sets; shape, textures, colors, sounds, and images were brought together to create abstract interpretations of the protagonist’s physical and psychological environment. This story could be about anyone and set anywhere. GIST is an invitation to use your imagination.

Production:
Creator and Executive Producer - Hernán Díaz Alonso
Producers - Marcelyn Gow/Reza Monahan
Director - Reza Monahan
Director of Photography - Walker Sayen (TinDragon Media)
B Camera/Sound Engineer - Jason Chapron
C Camera - Chunren Shih
Production Assistant - Chandler Kilgore-Parshall

Post-Production:
Story Producer - Marcelyn Gow
Editors - Walker Sayen (TinDragon Media)/Reza Monahan

Additional Images and Video Provided by Natou Fall

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